Author: Rhijnuis Feith

Feith, Rhijnvis, a Minister of the Dutch Reformed Church at Zwolle, in Holland. His hymn "Looftden Koning, alle Volken" appeared in the Evangelische Gezangen bij Godsdienst in de Nederlandsche Hervormde Gemeenten, 1806 (p. 1528, ii.). This hymn was translated on January 10, 1828, by J. Montgomery (M. MSS), as "Praise the Lord through every nation," and so far as we can trace, was first published in his Original Hymns, 1853, p. 136, as a hymn for Ascension Day, and headed, “Paraphrased, in the original metre, from a Dutch Hymn." In 1855 it was included in Mercer's Church Psalter & Hymn Book, No. 122, and later in many collections.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (1907)
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Notes

Scripture References:
all st. = Ps. 90, Ps. 103:13-18
Dutch poet Rhijnvis Feith (b. Zwolle, the Netherlands, 1753; d. Zwolle, 1824) wrote this text in six stanzas; it was published in the Dutch Evangelische Gezangen (1806). An English translation by Leonard P. Brink (b. East Saugatuck, MI, 1876; d. Pomeroy, IA 1936) was published in The New Christian Hymnal compiled by Henry J. Kuiper in 1929. Going back to the Dutch original, Henrietta Ten Harmsel (PHH 61) thoroughly revised the Brink translation in 1984 for the Psalter Hymnal.
The text contrasts the changing character and frailty of human life with the everlasting love of our changeless God. Though "life's dangers overwhelm us," we have confidence in God's guidance and protection. The text helps us to give voice to our own trust in divine providence, to bring comfort to those in distress, and to express our hope for "everlasting peace."
Rhijnvis Feith received a law degree from the University of Leiden in 1770 and was mayor of Zwolle. An ardent Dutch patriot and a man of letters who lamented the Napoleonic occupation of the Netherlands, Feith wrote nineteen volumes of prose and poetry, much of it highly romantic, as well as theological and philosophic essays. He also wrote a number of hymns, thirty-five of which were included in the Dutch hymnal Evangelische Gezangen (1806), which he helped to compile.
Leonard P. Brink, a graduate of Calvin Seminary, Grand Rapids, Michigan (1900), spent much of his life as a missionary among the Navajo people. He translated Bible books and hymns into the Navajo language and wrote a catechism for the Navajo people. He also translated Dutch poetry and hymns into English.
Liturgical Use:
Old Year's Eve services; worship that focuses on God's providence; funerals; church anniversaries.
--Psalter Hymnal Handbook

Tune

Originally a folk song ("Sollen nun die grünen Jahre") dating from around 1700, O DU LIEBE MEINER LIEBE was used as a hymn tune in the Catholic hymnal Bambergisches Gesangbuch (1732). The tune name is the incipit of the text to which it was set in Johann Thommen's Erbaulicher Musicalischer Christen…

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